Little Boy Blue
by Aestiva
Summary: Alex has always had that odd Rider ability to find himself in the biggest of messes without even trying, sometimes actively trying not to explode the situtation. However, he really can't stop himself from going on a trip with Navy SEALs and the rest of the boys in his class. Really, someone's bound to notice he's a little special. School/Camp fic set after SR.
1. Prologue

**I've had this idea for a long time, but I haven't posted it yet. My beta is APH1168kittens, so go check her out! Anyway, tell me what you think!**

**I don't own Alex Rider.**

Alex really hated that he had to go down the stairs to get his morning cup of black coffee. However, he knew the coffee was worth it, resulting in him sliding down the wooden banister, as per the Pleasure's routine.

"Hello Alex. How are you today?" Mr. Pleasure was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper, like every morning. They seemed to think that routine was good for him, that everyone needed to be in their spots every moment of every day or he would snap. What they didn't get was that it wasn't that he was just going through the actions without thinking and anything different would throw him off balance, it was just that he really didn't care about the world around him. It would kill him or it wouldn't but he didn't really care either way. He used to care, to try and end it himself, but that stage ended after they made him see a shrink.

"Good. How are you?" Alex asked as he poured himself a cup of the steaming black liquid, inhaling its rich smell.

"I'm well, thank you." After Mr. Pleasure had read exactly two and one fourth pages of his newspaper, Alex rose, dumped the dregs of his coffee on the dishes below as he placed it in the dishwasher, then nosily jumped up the steps, skipping every third stair. He had long ago figured out that if he made lots of noise in the mornings, like a teenager might, they thought he was growing out of his spook habits, such as walking softly. Just like every other Monday morning, he passed Sabrina in the hallway, a pink towel slung over her right shoulder and her hair over her left, smelling faintly of oranges.

"Alex! Why are you up so early?" Alex laughed.

"I could ask the same of you." Sabina just chuckled as she stepped into her room before tossing the towel at the door to push it closed, a routine behavior for her. Alex ducked into the shower, taking only ten minutes to shower and dry off before dressing in dark jeans and a Chelsea hoodie. Tom had sent it to him only two months ago, for Christmas, and he liked it more than the coats he had gotten since he moved in, all of which had a peace sign on them. The shrink thought that thoughts of peace would help his, as she put it, dark and troubled soul. After packing his lunchbox and hiding his gun so the Pleasure's wouldn't know he had it, Alex slid down the banister and landed on the couch. A moment later, Sabina walked in, holding her car keys by the red keychain and humming the new hit song under her breath.

"Hop in the car, we'll be late for school if we take too long." Alex was standing by the first word, knowing exactly what she was going to say. Sabina's car was a shiny red convertible that she wouldn't let Alex drive, knowing the profession of whom he had gotten driving lessons from. Sabina unlocked the car and they both got in before Sabina honked the horn.

"It's so they know we're going to school." Why she thought Alex needed an explanation every single day, he wasn't entirely sure, but it was irritating to be treated like such an incompetent child after a year of essentially, complete freedom to do whatever he pleased, on a mission or at home. When they pulled up at school, Sabina let Alex off in the front of the school before pulling around to the junior's parking lot in the back.

"Did you do the math homework last night? It took me forever." Matt asked, falling in step next to him. Matt reminded Alex of Tom, though they looked nothing alike. It was the way they would both just accept his word, the way they both tilted their heads to the side and bit their lip when thinking hard. Matt was a reader but he also coasted though class to get straight A's. He had tanned skin and brown hair that was constantly falling into his green eyes.

"Of course I did." Alex replied, not bothering to look at Matt to know the other was rolling his eyes. Matt moaned.

"Why do I even bother asking? Anyway, Rachel said that she heard the boys were having a special assembly today." He said, referring to the school gossip. Alex merely shrugged, not feeling that it was important enough to pursue the topic. In homeroom, the teacher ushered the boys of the class out the door the moment they had tossed their backpacks into their lockers.

"We have an assembly! Now get down there or you'll have detention so long you'll graduate!" As they left the room, they joined a parade of boys, all juniors, who had also been told that there was an assembly. When the group of students arrived, they found that there weren't enough seats for everyone. Alex and Matt found themselves in the midst of a large group of students standing in the aisles, about halfway down the auditorium's sloped floor. The principal, a stocky balding man, walked onstage, accepting a mike from one of the three men standing behind the podium, hands clasped behind them and feet spread shoulder-width apart.

"We have a special surprise for you lucky kids today." The mic screeched, making students wince and moan to their companions. The man in the middle stepped forwards.

"In recent years, we have become aware that many of our nation's youth are not interested in being in the armed forces. We are offering a chance for 300 of you boys to split into groups of twenty and spend two weeks with a Navy SEAL team and a British SAS team as part of our new Reach for the Stars program." The man from the left stepped forwards, smoothing his suit with the palms of his hands as he did so.

"Reach for the Stars is a new program implemented jointly by America and Britain. It is essentially a camping program to drum up interest in the armed forces. You will be camping with a SEAL unit, a SAS unit, and twenty children from Britain. Ideally, this will teach you how to survive in the wilderness, how to get along with people all over the globe, and how interesting the armed forces can be. The cost will be four hundred dollars and we will be holding a parent meeting tomorrow night at six to discuss any questions or concerns." The auditorium was quite, the only sound the scuffling of shoes. Matt sighed.

"I bet you anything my parents will make me go. They want me to drop out and become a soldier instead of going to college." Alex looked at him, surprised that he wasn't going to go to college. Matt was one of the brightest kids he knew, though not particularly physically fit. Matt must have seen the surprise in his eyes, for he rolled his.

"I'm going you know. I'm going to get scholarships and a job to pay my own way through. I want to be a lawyer." Alex had to bite his cheek to stifle a smile. It was so like Matt. Lots of kids planned to drop out and join the army but the one kid whose parents gave him permission wanted to be a lawyer.

Later, when it was time to ask about the trip, Alex had to force a smile on his face. He wanted to go on the trip a lot, he really did. It was just… How could he explain it to them? He didn't want to be normal, to be treated like a child who couldn't know anything. He just wanted to learn, to live life marveling at the little things, doing whatever he wanted to. He had earned that, right?

**I know that was really short, but it's just the prolouge. The next chapter will be longer and I WILL update my other stories. I've been having writer's block on them but I have started the next chapter for all of them. R&R!**


	2. The SEALs

**EDIT on 06/25/12: A reviewer pointed out a mistake that I fixed, sorry if you get an update email for this. Also, I forgot to tell you there's a poll on my profile about a story contest so please go vote!**

**I feel awful. I meant to get this up before I went on vacation but I couldn't make it for various reasons. Anyway, Facebook and Fire will probably be finished within a week thanks to a super nice review on another story from youngjusticefanatic. Really, that will come out soon. Also, I introduced the Navy SEALs team in this chapter, hope it works well Dani9513? I've been worrying over them, they seem so nice but really, why would any kid join the armed forces if they got screamed at for several weeks by nasty people? Not one. Anyway, here's the second chapter, falling just short of 3000 words.**

"Can you sign this thing for me please?" Alex asked. As a precaution, he had sat down and scrawled typical teenage boy comments all over the back and margins of the paper. After all, the Pleasure's weren't in the habit of reading through permission slips that the school gave and they certainly wouldn't question why he wanted to go. There were at least three comments about being in the same group that easily stood out against the doodles and other stray marks that had wandered onto his paper. Mr. Pleasure nodded, murmuring an unintelligible agreement to Alex before scribbling his signature.

"Hey Alex, what was that assembly today about?" Alex sighed. Sabina knew perfectly well what it was about. He knew for a fact that she had HOPE, the odd name they decided to call their PE class there, with some of the boys in his grade who would have been talking about it still.

"It's just a camping trip with some friends and some Navy people. It's nothing major, it'll just be a few weeks and we'd be doing our school work." Mr. Pleasure looked up from his book. _You're going back into that life, aren't you now?_

"What do you mean the Navy?" _I don't think it's healthy for you to have anything to do with the government._ The implied words acted like molten lead, making Sabina flinch and Ms. Pleasure spill her hot tea on her arm. Alex grabbed a napkin for her before settling against the counter and folding his arms tight against his chest. _Not safe enough for you._

"I'm fine guys. Besides, everyone else is going and it sounds a lot more fun than class." Mr. Pleasure considered this for a moment, biting his lip as he decided what to do. _You can't handle it. _Alex could practically hear the words that Mr. Pleasure longed to say.

"I suppose, provided that you were to keep an emergency phone on you, then if you really want to, I suppose we can't stop you." Alex plastered a fake grin all over his face and bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, dropping his arms to his side.

"Thanks! I'll be good, promise!" With that Alex grabbed his soda and left the kitchen, appearing to be going to his room to text his friends who would also be going on the trip. In reality though, he set his soda down before slipping out of the window. The good thing about having the room above the garage was that no one thought he would ever slip out the window. It was a rusty old thing and they always assumed they would hear him if he opened it, not knowing about the remedial but effective soundproofs Alex had installed one weekend when he was home alone.

0o0

"Hey Xander, what's up with you?" The lookout had spotted him late this time. He enjoyed trying to sneak up on the college kids when he came up to the platform. They always posted a lookout but despite being in a tree with limited cover he could normally get within ten branches of the wooden platform. Despite knowing it was safe, he couldn't help but glance warily down at the planks as he stepped on them. Matt and him had made it one weekend when they didn't have much homework. They had sawed the pine out of a fallen tree before painting them a dappled green on the bottom and a soft gray on the top so they could write over it. Matt had insisted on making a fake canopy directly underneath it in case he fell and Alex found it highly amusing to watch the college kids' nervousness when they saw the lack of a railing.

"Mason. How many do you need this time?" Mason looked around nervously.

"Don't say it so loud man! The badges might hear us and throw us in the slammer." Alex rolled his eyes. As much as he appreciated the extra money, he couldn't stand Mason. The boy, for he was just a boy, was pale and nervous constantly even when it made no sense. They were high in a tree in the middle of the woods. Did he think the cops were just wandering around in the woods?

"How much is it this time?" Alex's voice was lethal. The first time he had come, the college kids had seemed to think he was some kid looking for a fake ID himself, instead of selling them. He had promptly set fire to their current fake IDs. What were they going to do, report him to the police?

"We just need three of them." Mason motioned to three high school kids. One was a girl around 15 with wide eyes and black hair and the other two were brown-haired, green-eyed boys. The girl stepped forwards.

"I'd like a fake ID please. Can I have an April birthday? I've always liked that month a lot." Alex sighed but agreed anyway. The girl would be caught easily, she did not look old enough to drink and the bouncers around here had the ability to sense if someone was old enough to get in, fake ID or no fake ID. It was rather impressive. The other two asked the same of Alex. He only approved one of them though seeing as the other looked much older and might actually get in.

"How come I can't get one?" The boy, Michael as he introduced himself, protested. These kids really were stupid. They knew that the bouncers around here had special powers and that they would stop the music and announce that they got caught using a fake ID and look like a bloody idiot and they still wasted their money, time, and clean police record trying to make it past the bouncers.

"It's not going to work on you. You look too young to have anything more than a snowball's chance of pulling it off. These things are expensive to make and I don't plan on wasting time and effort for a pathetic child."

"What he says goes. He's the best and I expect you to respect him." Mason crossed his arms, miraculously looking intimidating enough to go unchallenged. Alex rolled his eyes and slipped away to find Tawny, Tawny was the girl who handled the money. Knowing her, she was sure to want to talk to him before he left and he'd rather she didn't do it at school. Her real name was Claire but, being so completely pointless as she could be at times, she promptly went by Tawny since she started of high school three years ago. She was also rather intelligent and was one of the few kids mixed up with things like this that would go to college and have a respectable career.

"Hey Xander, are you planning on going on that trip for all the boys?" Alex offered her a faint smile, not really wanting for Tawny to know. She might be intelligent and she may have a respectable life ahead of her but she did profit off criminal activity and she didn't have anything against stealing money from others. Alex couldn't stand her.

0o0

After they turned in the forms, it was a pretty easy process. The Pleasures all went to the parent meeting and Alex went over to Matt's house and they shot some hoops until the Pleasures came to pick Alex up. The four hundred was paid and before he was even fully aware of the situation, Alex found himself milling around in a group of 400 sweaty adolescent boys carrying an average of two duffle bags each in front of sixteen school buses.

"What group are you in?" Matt had found him. In reply, Alex simply held out his slip of paper with a large 8 scrawled on the top in red Sharpie. Matt held up a matching slip and gave him a nod and a soft but warm laugh. After the period of shuffling and yelling unique to high schools, everyone was seated on the bus. Matt had gotten a seat for both of them in the middle of the group they were in, next to the emergency window and in the middle of a cluster of people that they knew well enough to banter with but that really couldn't be classified as friends because Alex was not growing attached to where he was living, he was just acting so he could leave and take care of himself, that was all.

"So then, the quarterback makes this awesome move," Alex let himself relax into the conversation, letting the time slip past him as though on some stealthy mission from his old life. After some more conversation about American football, the topic changed to complaints of homework from the math teacher and the conversation kept flowing in the way of people who just liked seeing a friendly face and didn't really didn't care what they were talking about. Before long, they were at a hotel where they would get a day of rest before being shipped out with their groups to meet the SAS men and the British kids at whatever park they were staying at. They got to meet their group SEAL team that night.

"Group number eight please come in here." They were ushered into a conference road where four men sat waiting for them in a row. They were all dressed in civilian clothes, something that seemed odd to Alex. Not sinister, just slightly off. The man to the far left stood up. He was dressed in a dark red polo and jeans with military boots.

"Hello there boys, how are you all doing today? Anyway, I have some information for you guys here. In the Navy SEALs, we use color codenames. I'm Garnet and this," he pointed to the man next to him, dressed in a golden polo but otherwise with the same clothing. "Is Gold right here. The one of the far right is Arsenic and the other one is Brass. I'm the team leader, Gold is our communications expert, Arsenic is our team's sharpshooter, or sniper as you may know his job title as. Brass of course is our team's field medic. Now, this is really just an over simplified version of how things really are, but hopefully this gives you boys a rough understanding at our different roles in the team."

_Oh, the men's shirt colors were their code names, how delightfully clever of them._ Arsenic's was a dull blue-grey color and Brass's was the color of… well of brass. Alex studied each man in turn, noting the small differences that made them both utterly unique and completely normal, just like everyone else. Garnet was tan and with dark brown hair that shared the style of the other team members, a short buzz-cut. He had a Southern accent as well as green eyes, a shade that was too pale to be called vivid but to vivid to be called pale. Garnet was average height with broad shoulders used to working. He had a sort of lean strength that seemed very natural. He didn't look like a body builder but at the same time, he commanded respect, just by the way he moved and held himself.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Arsenic in case you forgot. You seemed a little out of it there. What's your name?" While he had been studying Garnet, Arsenic had walked up to him. Looking around the room, he saw that the men had scatted and were meeting the boys one by one. Arsenic didn't have an accent and was really rather pale for a soldier, suggesting he didn't tan easily. He had blond hair and bright blue eyes, looking rather like Alfred, one of the boys in his group. Alex smiled and held out his hand.

"I'm Alex Rider-Pleasure. Sorry sir, I was just wondering why the SEALs use color code names instead of animal or something?" Arsenic chuckled and shook his hand firmly.

"That's a good question kid. We use color code names because there are so many unique colors it makes it easy to have plenty of them. Otherwise, we'd have really long codenames after we ran out of generic names like snake, fox, eagle, or wolf. You wouldn't want to have to talk to an African Wild Dog over a radio, now would you?" Alex shook his head and Arsenic went off to meet another kid. In comparison to the other military types he had met, Arsenic was really kind. Next Brass came over to him and shook his hand.

"Hey kiddo, it's Brass here. What's your name?" Brass sounded as though he was from the New Hampshire area, clearly, these men were spread all over. He had red hair and hazel eyes and was also quite pale, a few shades lighter than Arsenic. He was tall, though he also had quite strength, unlike Arsenic who was rather short and had a more direct sort of power. Alex nodded respectfully at him.

"I'm Alex Rider-Pleasure sir." After Brass had laughed and clapped him on the back, he left to go meet Matt, who was lurking nearby. Deciding not to wait for Gold, Alex went over to Matt, who had just left Brass.

"What do you think of the soldiers so far?" Alex discreetly jerked his head to direct Matt to the sight of Andrew trying to get Garnet to act impressed at how much ran every day. Matt quirked the left side of his mouth up a bit.

_Could he be more stuck up?_ Alex inclined his head down a fraction.

_I don't think so._ Matt then tilted his head to the right a little.

_I think you're right; he's pretty stuck up already. _Alex lifted his left eyebrow a centimeter.

_I'm sure the SEALs will take kindly to his bragging._ Matt widened his eyes briefly.

_They seem so nice, they are people after all._ Alex bit his lip slightly.

_Doesn't mean they won't whoop his ass if he struts around the campsite, now does it?_ Matt laughed and before Alex could stop himself, he was as well. After a moment or two of laughter, a shadow fell in front of the two of them. Alex looked up, swiftly stopping laughing at the sight of Gold standing above him glaring.

"What do you two have to say for yourselves?" Behind Gold, Matt's eyes widen and he looked at Alex.

Please tell me he's joking.

What are you looking at me for? I can't help you there, sorry.

"I'm sorry sir, we were just…" Gold laughed, a mean sound that didn't fit with his tanned face with hair that was almost white and stormy grey eyes.

"Just doing what exactly? Wasting time?" The two boys made eye contact for a second before Alex decided that really, he didn't mind dying right then and there.

"You're not really angry, you're bluffing." Gold raised one thin eyebrow at him, as if testing his nerve.

"What did you say?" The tone in his voice had gone from mean to soft and cold, something that made Alex far more anxious than cruel words. Never the less, he raised his head high and looked the man in the eye.

"I _said_, you're bluffing us out to scare us." By now, the entire room was stilled and looking at Alex, the kids rolling their eyes at Alex's stupidity and the three other soldiers with blank expressions and neutral stances. After a long moment where Alex thought perhaps he was wrong, the man really was mad but there was something about the way he held himself, too aggressive to have been let on a project to get kids want to join the armed forces. After all, they wanted soldiers who would be kind to the kids, not scare them or be mocking or cruel.

"I like you kid, you've got guts and intelligence. What's your name?"

"My name is Alex Pleasure-Rider sir." Gold thumped him on the back and nodded at him before going to meet other children. Alex glanced up and saw Matt staring at him.

"What? I did tell you I have a basic inability to shut my mouth, did I not?" Matt shook his head.

"I thought you meant in class when the teacher says to be quite, not when a soldier is staring you down."

"He was too aggressive for it to make sense. Why would the Navy send soldiers that were mean or unsociable? They want us to join the armed forces, not run away from it." Matt sighed.

"It does make some sense. It's just that he just seemed so intimidating for you to pull something like that seems crazy." Alex shrugged.

"What else can I say Mattie boy? I told you I win at poker faces."

**Anyway, I know the SEALs team isn't accurately portraying their organizational system and the training and whatnot. This is fiction; we can take some creative liberties in describing real life things like K-Unit and the SEALs. Anyway, read and review?**


	3. The SAS

**Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure everyone here is about thirty seconds from bricking me to death, if anyone is bothering to read this after the incredibly long period where I completely vanished from this website. I'd love to say I will now magically update once a week and get better at writing and will start reading fanfiction again but that would be a blatant lie. I never make of my deadlines anyway. However, I will try to update within two months. I make no promises.**

_Clack, clack, clack, thud, thud, thud. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Click._ The first line of boys was gone.

_Clack, clack, clack, thud, thud, thud. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Click._ The second line of boys was gone.

_Clack, clack, clack, thud, thud, thud. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Click._ The third line of boys was gone.

_Clack, clack, clack, thud, thud, thud. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Click._ The fourth line of boys was gone.

_Clack, clack, clack, thud, thud, thud. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Click._ The fifth line of boys was gone.

_Clack, clack, clack, thud, thud, thud. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Click._ The sixth line of boys was gone.

_Clack, clack, clack, thud, thud, thud. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Click._ The seventh line of boys was gone.

_Clack, clack, clack._ The sound of the attendant's heels on the tile floor seemed a million times sharper when she walked to the eighth door in the hallway. _Thud, thud, thud._ The sound of her hand knocking on the door seemed far more forceful. _Squeak, squeak, squeak._ The sound of wet tennis shoes propelling students forward sounded way more piercing. Click. The sound of the door shutting behind them sounded final.

The room the boys were in could have belonged to any building in the developed world. The walls were gray, the ceiling was off-white, the floor was navy blue, the doors were brown.

It only added to Alex's sudden dizziness. I _will meet members of the SAS._ The room seemed to spin. _I will be recognized._ Alex leaned against the wall. _I will be caught._ The muttering from the rest of his group faded away until all he could hear was his heart, pounding out a frantic song. _They will tell the other kids._ Alex stopped noticing the other kids milling about. _I will die, I will-_

"Alex, man, you okay?" Another kid had noticed Alex in the corner and touched his arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just tired."

"Dude, I know. I couldn't sleep, I'm so pumped!" Alex's heartbeat slowly calmed down and the room stopped spinning. _What the hell's wrong with me?_

"Guys, military dudes are coming down the hallway!" announced Alfred, who appeared to have taken it upon himself to watch for the soldiers. Never before had Alex seen a room full of awkward teenage boys as still as they were then. They stayed virtually frozen when the men opened the door and walked in, only their eyes moving to watch the man in front.

"Well?" asked the first man to walk in. "Had enough fun staring at me?" The boys shuffled and apologized and looked anywhere but the man's face. "I'm Wolf, the team leader. This," the second man waved, "is Zebra. That one," the third man gave them a lazy smile, "is Orca and the last one is Panda. We'll be your SAS team while you boys are participating in this program."

Matt's hand promptly shot into the air, though he lowered it a half beat later with an embarrassed grin. "Sir," he started, "do all SAS teams have a color scheme?"

Orca chucked. "Clever boy now. Yes, actually. Most of us do have some form of color scheme and we were fortunate enough to get black and white. Other squads have pink or purple shorts." Wolf was wearing a plain black button-up top with black dress pants while the rest of the team had a white button-up and black dress pants. _Handy,_ Alex noted._ Leaders are always clearly visible and teams can quickly be sorted._

Three of the men spread around the room to speak to the group but Wolf sat down and kicked his boots onto the table while surveying the room with apparent amusement. There was a highly noticeable bubble of space around him.

"Hey," Alex said, walking up to Wolf, "so you're the leader?" Wolf bobbed his head, significantly adding to the sense of unease in the room.

"That's what I said, is it not? So why are you talking to a big, scary monster like me?" The room was basically dead silent save for their conversation, soldiers watching expectantly and boys expecting bloodshed.

"Why does having scars make you a big, scary monster? You are a soldier after all." Wolf chuckled and straightened up in his seat, removing his boots from the table.

"Well as you can see, most of the room is already terrified of me from this mark here so I figured I might as well state the obvious." The man touched his left hand to the long, thin line extending from his left temple to his left cheekbone, clearly left over from some combat mission. Alex laughed.

The two spoke for a while, Wolf seeming to be an incredibly nice guy who happened to have an intimidating injury, before Alex finally brought up the question of names. "Well," Wolf replied, "if a soldier dies then we reuse their name after a year. We'd run out otherwise." _Well,_ Alex thought,_ he was a soldier._

The group spent another fifteen minutes with the soldiers before they went to meet the kids from the other school.

After leaving the building, they trudged down the hill the building was situated on and into a narrow woods trail. Thin enough to require walking single file, the trail had full backpacks for each kid at the start that, while heavier than a schoolbag, weren't really that heavy. The soldiers picked up a massive bag each, easily double the weight of the students' bags. The students were absolutely delighted.

"So Al," Matt muttered from behind Alex, "you and Wolf getting it on?" From in front of Alex, a kid snickered. To reply, Alex simply stopped dead, managing to hit Matt in the face. "Ow, don't be a dick about it."

"Don't be an idiot about it, I was just talking to him."

"Quiet now, let's enjoy the hike. You can all speak freely when we get there but we're gonna try to sneak up on the British kids, okay?" Orca called back. Dead silence reigned, though each teen was grinning.

Alex took the time to study the soldiers better. Wolf—odd to think that the original Wolf is dead now, I knew him, he wasn't a faceless soldier—was a tall, moderately tanned man. He had a buzz-cut, just as every other soldier, with brown eyes and brown hair. Zebra was almost the same, just slightly shorter and with a lighter shade of brown hair. Orca had hazel eyes and was an inch taller than Wolf but his hair was almost the same shade of generic bark. Panda, however, looked somewhat Asian. He was the shortest of all, standing about two inches under Zebra, but with black hair and brown eyes.

While he was lost in inspecting the soldiers, he managed to bump into the guy in front of him, who promptly turned around and motioned for him to stay quiet. The line had ground to a stop, the trees opening into a clearing ten meters or so in front of them. At the front of the line, Wolf crouched down and waddled a few steps forward before standing up and announcing it was still empty.

"Come forwards, kids, this is what we're gonna do. Dump your packs in a circle in the center then climb into the low hanging trees around here. Don't do go too high, stay low but flatten yourself out and get some leaves covering you from below. Stay quiet because the SEALs and the other kids will be here soon. I'll leave a letter to them but they're gonna have to find you. Kid who stays hidden the longest gets extra smores after dinner but no ratting each other out. Got it?" The group was already tossing their backpacks on the floor and shimmying up trees or walking into the forest.

"Alex, bet I can last longer than you can!" Matt called from the other side of the clearing.

"You're on!" Alex replied, already hauling himself into a short tree and carefully stepping into the taller tree next to it. As he waited, he couldn't help but think of the original Wolf. Wolf one. It wasn't like he was buddies or anything with the man, despite seeing him after the camp. Still, it was disconcerting to think that a man he knew had been dead for at least a year, probably two since Wolf Two had already gone through some training, likely not all of it though. The military was unlikely to send crack soldiers to act all hunky-dory about training to some high school kids. _How did he die?_ As unlikely as it was that he would ever find out, Alex still had a fleeting idea that he could simply ask Wolf Two about the naming system more, about the Wolf before him. How many men called Wolf had gone before Wolf Two anyway? Wolf was a pretty easy name, probably prime real estate so it wouldn't have been a new name. It probably had a long and bloody history.

_Snap!_ Alex was pulled out of his grim musings by the sound of twigs being trampled underfoot. A line of other people, led by Brass's flaming hair, was entering the clearing and taking in the packs. As they filed in and spread out, a short boy with spiky black hair looked up at Alex almost immediately.

"Al?"

**Hey, if you kill me then I'll be even slower to update.**


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